All results matching: "surrender"

Vedas describe God as being Nirguna free of qualities and Niranjana free of blemish Advaita philosophy of Adi Sankara explains this concept God or Brahmn does not have any gunas or qualities But Ramanuja of Vishishtadvaita philosophy explains that nirguna does not mean that God has no qualities it only means that God has no bad qualities Ramanuja became so fascinated by the quality of karuna and daya compassion that his entire work is mostly about this wonderful quality Because of this quality He comes to the rescue of all those who surrender completely to Him as His compassion is limitless The entire principle of Vishishtadvaita veers around Sharanagati total surrender to God Vaishnavites believe that by seeking forgiveness through their Guru or Acharya they will be absolved of all sins and come closer to salvation In Bhagavad Purana when Hiranyakashipu asks Prahalad his son what is the best thing he has learnt Prahalad enumerates nine ways of reaching God and one of them is atma samarpanam or total surrender to God In the Bhagwad Gita Krishna says Leave everything and surrender to me I will absolve you of all sins and lead you to salvation God does not differentiate between friend and foe man and animal caste and creed He comes to the rescue of all those who surrender to Him with full faith and belief in Him Surrendering unconditionally is one way of expressing our confidence in the Divine for faith works wonders DISCLAIMER Views expressed above are the author39s own

The essence of the Bhagwad Gita is surrender the key to salvation writes JYOTI BHATTAsurefire way to salvation and opening the doors of the kingdom of God is surrender explains Krishna in the Bhagwad Gita the jewel of timeless Indic wisdom Surrender is the essence of this sacred bookSo when we speak of surrendering from a philosophical perspective it obviously has much deeper implications than its dictionary meanings of relinquishing renouncing or conceding Surrendering to God unlike surrendering to a human being does not mean yielding or giving up your wealth belongings status or powerinstead it means having confidence love and unflinching faith in Him who is your eternal friend and genuine wellwisher Giving up your will accepting the Divine will and allowing it to prevail every moment of your life is a sure sign of selfrealisation Just as a machine stops functioning the moment one of its nuts or bolts falls apart similarly if we don t align ourselves with His will or don t tune in with His plans for us our life will simply go haywire Most of us assume that God is far away and trying to attain Him is like pursuing a mirageBut actually that is not so God loves each one of us more than we can ever imagine He is closer to us than our own breath our sincere soul mate sitting right next to the atman constantly aware of each and every thought word and deed He has been our constant companion since eternity and will never ever desert us at any moment of time However even though He is so nigh we are neither aware of Him nor experience His presence and proximity This is because our consciousness has become contaminated and polluted in pursuing the myriad desires that we have been harbouring since innumerable lifetimes Entangled in the karmic web of cause and effect we lose ourselves in the labyrinth of mundane pursuits and forget that we actually belong to Him who is sat eternal chit knowledge and ananda bliss So if we fervently desire to become free of this cycle of birth and death and to experience our true nature of being satchitananda we will have to purify the muddy pool of our consciousness and make it crystal clear to be able to perceive Him In order to accomplish this we need not give up our duties of home and family and retire to the HimalayasAll we need to do is surrender to Him by dovetailing all our activities according to His will no matter what situation we are inThat is why Krishna says in the Bhagwad Gita verse 510 One who performs His duty without attachment surrendering the results unto the Supreme Lord is unaffected by sinful action as the lotus leaf is untouched by water Due to false ego we forget that we are actually pure spiritual souls and not this body a product of material nature From this state of false consciousness we can be awakened to a state of pure consciousness the moment we begin to surrender to God and act according to His will In the Bhagwad Gita verse 514 Krishna states The steadily devoted soul attains unadulterated peace because he offers the results of all activities to Me whereas a person who is not in union with the Divine who is greedy for the fruits of his labour becomes entangled Again in verse 87 Krishna clearly claims Therefore Arjuna you should always think of Me and at the same time carry on your prescribed duty of fightingWith your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me you will attain Me without doubt Consequently in doing so we can attain the highest perfection and become free from miseries as assured by Krishna in verse 815After attaining Me the great souls who are yogis in devotion never return to this temporary world which is full of miseries because they have attained the highest perfection In verse 834 Krishna teaches us how to surrender to HimThis is one of the most important verses in the Bhagwad Gita and that is why Krishna has repeated it twice in this holy scriptureHe firmly states Engage your mind always in thinking of me become my devotee offer obeisance to me and worship me Being completely absorbed in me surely you will come to me Then Arjuna asks Him in verse 1017 how he can constantly think of Him and in what various forms can he be rememberedKrishna answers to that saying that he is the Super Soul seated in the hearts of living entities and then goes on to describe some of his splendorous manifestations All through the Bhagwad Gita Krishna expounds knowledge and describes many purificatory processes of religion and in the last chapter he summarises all his teachings in one verse He assures Arjuna and promises him that if he simply surrenders to him without worrying about these different purificatory processes he will surely deliver Arjuna from all sinful reactions Thus Krishna says in verse 1866 Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions Do not fear Post your comments at speakingtreein

Give in to existence says OSHO By acting in tune with the environment we can only experience total harmony and peaceLao Tzu says You are not a separate entity Do not be inimical to existence You are not an individual You appear so only because you have no idea of the Aggregate The fact is wherever there is the individual he is connected to the Aggregate Whole The individual cannot exist without the Total Aggregate You are because everything else is The tree at your gate is also a part of the reason for your existenceOne day one of Lao Tzu s disciples was sent by someone to pluck a few leaves from a tree He broke a full branch and was taking it when Lao Tzu stopped him Don t you know you fool he said to the disciple that if any part of this tree is destroyed you too become less to that extent When this tree stood before us full and green we too in a manner were full and green Today its wound has caused a scar within us also We are not apart we are one Importance Of JunglesLao Tzu objected to a single branch being broken from the tree but we have destroyed full jungles Now we realise it was a terrible mistake We had destroyed the jungles because we thought them to be our foes We were afraid of the wild life the forests harboured and so we destroyed them and built townships We did not realise that all the rains that poured on the land all the breeze that blew and cooled the land cannot be without the jungles If we cut down the jungles our towns will be no moreNow there is a stir against cutting of trees It is a crime to break a single leaf for we will fall with the extinction of trees Lao Tzu said 2 500 years ago that the tree is very much a part of us a part of existence It is just as if we were to remove a part of a painting from the main work It would not then be the same One single stroke of the brush can change a whole picture A slight digression changes the total form and hence all the following connectionsEcologists believe in the interrelationship of organisms with their environment They say that man has to suffer because of the things he has destroyed When birds stop singing we shall have created a hindrance in the music that is in nature and then our minds will never know the peace and joy that came with their singing We are unaware of the clouds that glide in the skies the flowers blooming on the trees and the song of birds in spring Just Let Them BeIf the moon is no more there will be enormous changes on earth There will no longer be waves in the oceans the menstrual cycle of women would become erratic It will not move in a cycle of 28 days as it does now Then everything will change A slight difference and everything changesLao Tzu says Let things be as they are Accept them they are your companions Do not segregate the opposite That which seems hostile and unfriendly let even that be where it is for the pattern of nature is deep and profound and full of mystery Everything is joined within The Right AttitudeAnd Lao Tzu says If there is the attitude of friendship of companionship between the various parts of Existence if there is the feeling of oneness with each other instead of overpowering each other a wonderful music is created in life This very music Lao Tzu calls Tao that very music is religion that very music is the natural environment around usNow we use detergents instead of soap Ecologists say that if we continue to use these detergents we will kill ourselves When we wash clothes with soap the soap gets reabsorbed in the soil within 15 days In 15 days it is again lost in nature but detergents take 150 years to be reabsorbed in the elements So it will be in the soil for 150 years and it will begin to turn into poison within the first 15 years This means it will stay in the soil for 135 years as poisonScientists proclaim that at the rate these detergents are being used in the world today whatever grows on the soil will become poisonous within the next 50 years Then you will not be drinking water but poison Then the vegetables we eat will be poisonous But we don t understand all this now We use detergents because soap costs more It seems we are being thrifty but remember whatever we do is interrelated The slightest modification causes a great deal of differenceLao Tzu was against change of any kind He used to say Accept life as it is Accept the Opposite also for there is a secret to it also Embrace death when it comes It too has its secret Do not fight life yield to it Surrender to existence Do not struggle with it The Way of Tao courtesy Osho International Foundation wwwoshocom

Give in to existence says OSHO By acting in tune with the environment we can only experience total harmony and peace Lao Tzu says You are not a separate entity Do not be inimical to existence You are not an individual You appear so only because you have no idea of the Aggregate The fact is wherever there is the individual he is connected to the Aggregate Whole The individual cannot exist without the Total Aggregate You are because everything else is The tree at your gate is also a part of the reason for your existence One day one of Lao Tzus disciples was sent by someone to pluck a few leaves from a tree He broke a full branch and was taking it when Lao Tzu stopped him Dont you know you fool he said to the disciple that if any part of this tree is destroyed you too become less to that extent When this tree stood before us full and green we too in a manner were full and green Today its wound has caused a scar within us also We are not apart we are one Importance of jungles Lao Tzu objected to a single branch being broken from the tree but we have destroyed full jungles Now we realise it was a terrible mistake We had destroyed the jungles because we thought them to be our foes We were afraid of the wild life the forests harboured and so we destroyed them and built townships We did not realise that all the rains that poured on the land all the breeze that blew and cooled the land cannot be without the jungles If we cut down the jungles our towns will be no more Now there is a stir against cutting of trees It is a crime to break a single leaf for we will fall with the extinction of trees Lao Tzu said 2 500 years ago that the tree is very much a part of us a part of existence It is just as if we were to remove a part of a painting from the main work It would not then be the same One single stroke of the brush can change a whole picture A slight digression changes the total form and hence all the following connections Ecologists believe in the interrelationship of organisms with their environment They say that man has to suffer because of the things he has destroyed When birds stop singing we shall have created a hindrance in the music that is in nature and then our minds will never know the peace and joy that came with their singing We are unaware of the clouds that glide in the skies the flowers blooming on the trees and the song of birds in spring Just let them be If the moon is no more there will be enormous changes on earth There will no longer be waves in the oceans the menstrual cycle of women would become erratic It will not move in a cycle of 28 days as it does now Then everything will change A slight difference and everything changes Lao Tzu says Let things be as they are Accept them they are your companions Do not segregate the opposite That which seems hostile and unfriendly let even that be where it is for the pattern of nature is deep and profound and full of mystery Everything is joined within The right attitude And Lao Tzu says If there is the attitude of friendship of companionship between the various parts of Existence if there is the feeling of oneness with each other instead of overpowering each other a wonderful music is created in life This very music Lao Tzu calls Tao that very music is religion that very music is the natural environment around us Now we use detergents instead of soap Ecologists say that if we continue to use these detergents we will kill ourselves When we wash clothes with soap the soap gets reabsorbed in the soil within 15 days In 15 days it is again lost in nature but detergents take 150 years to be reabsorbed in the elements So it will be in the soil for 150 years and it will begin to turn into poison within the first 15 years This means it will stay in the soil for 135 years as poison Scientists proclaim that at the rate these detergents are being used in the world today whatever grows on the soil will become poisonous within the next 50 years Then you will not be drinking water but poison Then the vegetables we eat will be poisonous But we dont understand all this now We use detergents because soap costs more It seems we are being thrifty but remember whatever we do is interrelated The slightest modification causes a great deal of difference Lao Tzu was against change of any kind He used to say Accept life as it is Accept the Opposite also for there is a secret to it also Embrace death when it comes It too has its secret Do not fight life yield to it

Surrender is not submission It is realising that everywhere everything belongs to the Divine already With this realisation comes a deep relaxation a feeling of trust and being at homeSri Sri Ravi Shankar

It has to come from deep inside you says OSHO The essential surrender happens within you it has nothing to do with anybody outside you The basic surrender is a relaxation a trust so don t be misguided by the word Linguistically surrender means to surrender to somebody but religiously surrender simply means trust relaxing It is an attitude rather than an act you live through trust

PRATIKSHA APURV portrays Krishna s Raas Leela in a colourful painting where the gopis and their beloved Gopala are dancing in gay abandonAmong all the gods and goddesses in ancient scriptures Krishna is the most adorable figure He is always seen as playful yet with a multidimensional character Whether you think of him as Arjuna s teacher or as a companion of the gopis or cowherd girls of Braj just the mention of his name triggers an energy that is full of love joy and bliss In the Bhagwad Gita Krishna plays the role of a Master to Arjuna in explaining the supreme knowledge Whereas his character in Braj from childhood to adolescence is that of a naughty boy one who enjoys playing with his village friends and celebrates the whole universe singing and dancing with the gopisThat is the reason why poets like Ratnakar who wrote the historical Uddhav Shatak and authored the leela surrounding Krishna s playful character and Sant Surdas have portrayed Krishna unlike any other god or goddessKrishna s Raas Leela the dance of celebration is a manifestation of the ultimate meditative state where those dancing with him are so besotted by his mesmerising acts that everything around them appears to become stillThis is no ordinary danceFor the gopis time comes to a standstill when Krishna puts the flute to his lipsThe divine naad melody which flows out makes them drop their minds and celebrate the universeThis very dance with Krishna is the moment of being total and dissolving oneself completely in the love of the DivineWhen Krishna is dancing with a gopi he is so immersed in dancing with her that she feels he is wholly hers And if there are hundreds of gopis dancing with Krishna on a full moon night each one feels the same wayTo Arjuna Krishna says in the Gita Bhaktya tvananya shakya aham evam vidho rjuna jnathum drashtu ch tattwena praveshtum ch parantapah when there is total devotion I am available I can be known and seen and only in this way can you enter into me It sounds unbelievable but God can be seen and known in this playful momentFor Krishna every moment is raas and when you are totally immersed in your dance and therefore spontaneous with no discipline or rules to follow you can have the glimpse of the DivineUnlike other gods depicted in our scriptures Krishna is perhaps the most lovable figure who enjoys songs and dance as well as moments of great laughter with his friends and gopisThis is because Krishna does not have a system a structure unlike other figures because he is complete and whole in himself and therefore does not need to follow any set pattern or discipline Krishna has also never been depicted to be serious in any imaginative sketches that artists have painted him down the agesHis image brings celebration into life making it an occasion of festivity a moment of fun joy and play And this festivity is not a small thing It is a cosmic celebration Osho describes the raas leela as a dance with the Master and says that the word gopi means a devotee one who has chosen the path of devotion and that of surrender Krishna represents the lover and gopi as the beloved and in this raas the search is not through the devotee s mind but through the heart which does not require any effort only total surrenderWhen the gopis are singing there is only the song and when Meera is dancing there is only the danceThere is no Meera as the dancer has completely merged with thedanceWhen Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is singing and dancing in his kirtan there is no Chaitanya he has become one with his song and danceIn the Gita Krishna tells Arjuna Sarv dharma parityajya mam ekam sarnamvraja aham tvam sarva papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucach abandon all kinds of religion and just surrender to me and I shall deliver you from all worldly reactions Both gopis during the raas leela and Arjuna on the Kurukshetra battlefield are in total surrenderDropping the individual ego or I is the first step towards attaining this path of Supreme LoveThere is the story of Ebrahim the king of Balkh who after renouncing his kingdom went to meet a Sufi Master He said to the Master I have left everything behind please Master looked at him and said Before I make you my disciple you will have to pass certain tests Ebrahim was a little puzzled but he agreed to go through any testThe Sufi Master smiled and said You have to drop your expensive attire you have to go naked and take a round of the city you have been rulingAlso take one of my sandals along and go on beating your head with it while you are walking through the street The Sufi Master s old disciples were aghast One of them even objected arguing that the king has already renounced the kingdom what more test is needed to accept him as a discipleBut the Master was adamant Only after the king fulfils this order will I think about making him my disciple said the Master categorically King Ebrahim undressedhimself picked up the Sufi Master s sandal and started beating his head while walking down the streets of the city he was ruling just a few hour ago Later in the evening when he saw Ebrahim returning completely naked and still beating his head with the sandal the Sufi Master bowed down to him and said You are already enlightened EbrahimI see a miracle Ebrahim said he didn t know anything about any miracle or enlightenment he was just carrying out the task given to him by the Master without thinking about people who were laughing at him on the streetsThis is what Krishna calls complete surrenderThough it is not rational or logical Krishna s raas is an indication of this total surrender or devotion a glimpse of the wholesomeness of existence

Yoga is not a religious practice Faith however could be one of many tools to arrive at the state of yoga says practioner NAVTEJ JOHARYoga is a physical practice that aims at drawing the mind into the present and therein lies its spirituality Yoga is not a religious practice it does not advocate belief in God Patanjali s Yoga Sutras are as much for atheists as they are for believers In the sutra Isvarapranidhanava Patanjali offers surrender to Iswara God or deity as one option to arrive at yoga a state of mental equanimity where the subject and object of attention converge in a state of heightened awareness There are two important points to note here that the practitioner s position is lower than Iswara God or any other object of faith and the suffix va meaning or indicates that Patanjali offers surrender as an option The sutra thus clearly says that the yogi may use surrender as a tool to arrive at a state of yoga or he may avail of other options to arrive at the same goal God thus is not compulsory belief in God is one of the many tools to arrive at the state of yoga Three OptionsThe other options that Patanjali offers are 1 Pranayama 2 Appropriate conduct and 3 Enquiry Pranayama is mindfultreatment of the breath and it is intrinsically connected to the condition of the body and therefore asana The body houses the breath the breath is independent of and yet affected by the condition of the bodymind It is independent because it comes from a place beyond comprehension and is the primary agency that brings our being to life The breath thus is a very significant conduit between body mind and beyondnessOnce contained within the body it also becomes interdependent upon other primary ingredients that constitute the individual bodymind ie the three doshas or humour and gunas or temperament The doshas and gunas constitute the chemistry which is continuously tempered by what one eats drinks sees perceives imagines thinks and chooses to retain in one s memory Appropriate practice of asana and pranayama helps to stabilise and calm the mind and bring it into the moment The aim of yoga is to be in the moment in order to arrive at a state of clarity and equanimity And there is not a better method to arrive in the moment than to meditate upon the breath as nothing is more in the moment than the breath Appropriate ActionPatanjali next stresses on appropriate behaviour free from personal likes and dislikes By doing so we do not transgress nor incur transgressions leaving a lot of free headspace conducive to remaining in a state of mindfulness This is not easy to achieve it is not a result of mental selfharnessing or moral policing but a natural consequence of rigorous practice This may then be reinforced with fearless selfexamination and continued practice Object Of Enquiry The third important aspect that Patanjali stresses upon is an object of enquiry an object that proactively connects the practitioner with something outside of him He suggests an exhaustive list of objects that may match the practitioner s disposition and interest of enquiry it can be just about anything but an object of enquiry there must be Because to live inside one s head without a focus of enquiry makes one susceptible to false identifications delusions and even insanity The various options Patanjali offers surrender pranayama appropriate conduct and enquiry are all practices that require both the rigour of physical effort mindful observation and review of faith through remembrance Spirituality in yoga is thus not just a mental thing it is a result of appropriate practices suitable to age time station in life involving the body breath and mind practices that can cause the tumults of the doshas to quell in the body Once the plug is pulled out of the doshas that cause compulsive actions and reactions the bodymind are now fertile ground to nurture spirituality When the tide of obstructions and distractions is low it is easier to channelise attention into desirable areas and delve deeper into one s object of enquiry be it God a value or even an existential question

A dedicated band of Brahma Kumaris all engineers and administrators manage the India One Solar Thermal Power Project in Abu Rajasthan REENA SINGH speaks to BK JAYASIMHA their CEO and BK ANETA LOJ Manager RD on synergising a spiritual lifestyle with a scientific approach at the solar power plant What drew you to Mt Abu and to the BKs BK Aneta Loj I was a practising Catholic in Europe where 90 per cent of the people follow the Catholic religion When I understood the philosophy of the BKs I understood the big picture one that I really liked I always had questions including the one that asks why one religion is better than the other and finally I realised that every religion is good But it is more essential to connect with the seed Every religion has a certain aspect but there is only One God for all of us He is incorporeal the point of light our Supreme Soul We are all souls and so is God a soul genderless He can be our mother and father BK Jayasimha Rathod Don t we say Tumhi ho mata pita tumhi ho the Upanishads say Ekam sat viprah bahudha vadanti At BK institute we are not religious we are spiritual Worshipping Him is different from understanding and remembering Him If we do the former we will end up with rituals and blind faith By remembering him we obtain the true benefit of God being our mother and father The basic principle of the BKs is that God does not belong to any religion BK Aneta We can have all the relationships with God how ever we want What is important is that we find our Supreme Parent What is the role of meditationand service in Selfrealisation With meditation can we become better and conflictfree individuals BK Jayasimha There are two perspectives to your question One is that of social transformation the other is that of selftransformation The knowledge that is served here is plain there is no hierarchy blind faith or idol worship The simplest form of meditation is for Selfrealisation looking within Once we realise that we are all brothers and sisters and understand the concept of vasudhaiva kutumbakam we know we are all connected As souls we are eternal and connected to the Supreme Soul With this fundamental understanding of the soul we move to different levels As BKs we never ask what we were This is the first time I am learning that Aneta was Catholic earlier Once we start understanding and practising this philosophy we experience harmony within We move from family to surroundings to nation and to the world But we do just the opposite We want to change the world first and then we want to change ourselves What is your understanding of the word surrender Does it mean surrender material comforts or personal life BK Jayasimha Surrender does not mean leaving everything Surrender your ego wrong beliefs blind faith and idol worship but not your selfesteem Out of one million BK followers only 10 000 are fulltime devotees those who are surrendered The rest are working and still taking care of their families You need food for your body as well as for your soul and that is what our BK branches do All we promote is living life with a clear vision with no confusion regarding God Self or religion Was there opposition from family when you left everything and surrendered BK Aneta My family wanted me to be happy and when I first started practice of Raja Yoga they saw a very visible change in me They saw that I was happy even when I resigned my job and came here to India There was no opposition at all only support They see that I am now at peace happy and doing what I like I had a great job earlier I earned a lot of money and travelled the whole world and lived in a beautiful apartment But something was missing I was never at peace and there was no inner happiness I wasn t using my time in a worthwhile way I would use the word no sense to every second line that was spoken to me I did not see why I had to use so much energy and my time on corporate work It was like I was dedicated and surrendered to a big corporation in terms of my time energy and skills We each have to find our own path for happiness BK Jayasimha Indians are immersed in this fundamental understanding of spirituality of trying to understand oneself At the BKs we have a system for surrendering but we still encourage family life Family life can change anytime Even if I am surrendered here it does not mean that my family may not need me tomorrow Tomorrow they may have some monetary requirements and our institute supports that on a casetocase basis If someone has to give personal attention to their family they may even leave and come back There are no strict rules Spiritual organisations are like corporations each follower takes on a managerial role Some like you are engineers or business professionals How is this any different from the nonBK world BK Jayasimha We must understand that whether one is a yogi or not one cannot retire from karma A person can run away to a jungle but he still must do his karma Doing a job here or doing something you like is an integral part of life it is karma just like you sleep or eat There is no difference between us as far as karma is concerned even if all of us here are surrendered brothers and sisters But there is a difference between deriving pleasure in doing the work or being under pressure while doing your karma Here we have dedicated ourselves to a cause in a voluntary organisation without seeking financial incentives or monthly payments I derive pleasure from the karma I do And when you do karma you also do yoga But even in our solar plant we are looking for recognition even government grants That s because we are human beings and have our own weaknesses Follow Brahma Kumaris at speakingtreein

Make your offering said the Master As you make it be pleased in mind Make your mind completely calm and contented Focus and fill the offeringmind with the giving From this secure position you can be free from ill willSutta Nipata 506 Lo We have given you abundance so pray to your Lord and sacrificeQuran 10812 Each one must do as he has made up his mind not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giverCorinthians 97 Once we surrender our mind to Divine Grace completely we will be taken care of in every waySri Sathya Sai Baba Love conquers all things let us too surrender to loveVirgil If you surrender completely to the moments as they pass you live more richly those moments Anne M Lindbergh

Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur who revived Chaitanya s Hare Krishna movement prefers faith and sentiment to reason and logicChaitanya Mahaprabhu said that a rational approach alone is not enough to take us to the divine sphere Where yukti or reason fails ruchi or religious sentiment can help He detailed nine points inspired by the Vedas1 Brahmn is the creative principle while Shiva is the destructive principle Indra is the head of some lower elements in terms of administration There are three distinct philosophical ideas of the deity the negative Brahmn of the pantheistic school the universal soul Paramatma of the yoga school and the idea of a personal deityThe spiritual idea of Bhagavan is of two kinds In one the personage of the deity is overpowered by His own majesty and in the other His personal beauty overpowers all His majesty The first idea is represented in the great Narayana of Vaikuntha and the second is represented in the allbeautifulKrishna with Radhika his hladini or superior ecstatic energy Krishna attracts loves and brings ecstasy to all souls His person and personal attachments are purely spiritual The rational man can hardly conceive of or believe in Krishna and his lila As his spiritual essence improves he sees and loves Him with all his heart2 Hari is always vested with infinite powers Krishna is supreme will in himself and he exercises his supreme power at his pleasure which submits to no law because all law has come from his will and power3 He is the ocean of rasa that ecstatic principle which takes various forms of love and affection expressed between the living being and the Lord The process of exhibiting of rasa relates to its expression in man while still enthralled in matter The eternal rasa of Krishna exists spiritually in chitjagat the spiritual world4 The soul is His vibhinnamsha or separated part By soul is meant all sorts of souls whether animal human or celestial Chaitanya Mahaprabhu believed in the theory of transmigration of the soul5 Certain souls are engrossed by prakriti or His illusory energy Prakriti God s maya pradhan prapancha and avidya are different names for the same principle on account of its different phases and attributes Maya has three attributes sattva rajas and tamas goodness passion and ignoranceKarma procures heavenly elevations up to the Brahmaloka planet Akarma gives an unpleasant state on earth Vikarma hurls down souls to hell6 Certain souls are released from the grasp of prakriti When a man comes in contact with a Vaishnava whose heart has been melted by Hari bhakti rasa he loves to imbibe the sweet principle of bhakti by following in his holy footsteps By constant study of Krishnabhakti he attains to his true nature7 Satsang or the company of spiritual people is the only means to obtain the ultimate object of man Bhakti is a principle which conducts itself from one congenial soul to another The principle of bhakti is sincere and dependence on the deity in all acts of life8 Bhakti is the only means of attaining the final object of spiritual existence Karma cannot directly and immediately produce spiritual results it does so by means of bhakti Bhakti is independent and karma and jnana are dependent principles Bhakti is both a feeling and an actionIt has three stages sadhanabhakti bhavabhakti and premabhakti In sadhanabhakti the feeling of love has not yet been roused In bhavabhakti the feeling awakes and in premabhakti the feeling is fully set to action9 Krishna is prema or pure love Krishna is the final object of spiritual existence

People worship God through practising rituals passed on from generation to generation During prayer people usually ask God for rewards in consideration of a promise if the reward is received Mundane thoughts often cause distraction Wholehearted devotion is generally lackingFollowing rituals of worship does draw attention towards God and helps to focus the mind to an extent Sticking lifelong only to the worship rituals does not enable realisation of the true Divine What is needed is unwavering devotionDevotion means faith and surrender When prayers are chanted with total concentration on God doors open up Ramakrishna Paramahamsa narrated a story to his disciples to explain what devotion means A milkmaid living on the other side of a river used to supply milk to a priest Owing to irregular boat service the milkmaid could not supply milk on time She was once rebuked by the priest for being late The milkmaid replied I start early from the house but have to wait for long for the boatman for which reason I arrive late to your place The priest sermonised There are people who cross the ocean of life by uttering the name of God and you can cross the river in a similar way The simple milkmaid was glad on learning this easy means of crossing the river From the next day she started to reach the priest s place on time One day the priest asked her How is it that you are no longer late The milkmaid responded As you advised I cross the river by chanting the name of the Lord and do not wait for a boat The priest could not believe her He said Can you show me how you cross the river The milkmaid took him with her and began to walk over the river reciting the name of God Looking behind she saw the priest uttering the name of God but trying to hold his cloth to avoid getting wet by water She asked the priest Don t you have complete faith Concluding the story Ramakrishna Paramahamsa told his disciples absolute faith and total surrender to God makes Him your companion There will be no need to seek anything from Him He will take full care and give what is needed and protect from all harm and danger It is vital to rise from a ritual follower to the level of having resolute trust and complete surrender like the milkmaid In the Bhagwad Gita Krishna told Arjuna Relinquishing all ideas of righteousness surrender exclusively unto Me I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions Do not fear To achieve this level of devoutness the potential way is to love and serve all beings without discrimination God resides in every being Serving people selflessly erodes ego quenches worldly desires fosters devotion and develops total trust in the Divine Swami Vivekananda said One who serves humankind serves God Rituals are not necessarily redundant Practising rituals is the initial stage of cleansing the mind and is a slow evolving process to move towards God Over time one needs to elevate from the kindergarten level of rituals to the ultimate stage of oneness with God through the path of selfless love and service which leads to complete surrender to the Almighty and eventually unites with the Omnipresent the Omnipotent and the Omniscient

Every jiva s or individual s final duty is to surrender to the Supreme In Vedanta the path of knowledge the ego is destroyed in realisation of the Self through knowledge When the ego is dropped all problems come to an end On the path of devotion the surrender to the Supreme is called saranagati or prapatti The Almighty assures that anyone who goes to Him even once and says O God I am yours is released from fear Sakrdeva prapannaya tavasmiti ca yacate abhayam sarva bhutebhyo dadamyetad vratam mama In the Bhagwad Gita Sri Krishna says Sarva dharman parityajya mamekam saranam vraja aham tva sarva papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah In other words giving up all dharmas of body mind and intellect take refuge in Me alone I shall release you from all sins grieve not 1866 Sins are the cause of fear Whether we are released from sins or fear it means the same thing Saranagati or surrender is possible only when one recognises one s total helplessness As long as we feel that we with our own strength can achieve things or put an end to all our troubles and sorrows we cannot surrender Sometimes we depend on friends and relatives for help However the moment they realise you are in trouble many of them begin to avoid you That s why they are called relatives and not absolutes Even if they are good enough to help they are finite limited in their powers When people realise the limitations of their own strength money power people and so on they experience an acute helplessness and this leads to surrender To take refuge in someone I must first have faith in the existence of that entity A nonbeliever will not be able to surrender to God because he does not believe in Him So it is important to have faith in the existence of God His omnipotence and His compassion Have the confidence that if I surrender to God He will protect me It is not enough to know all this we must actually seek His protection by surrendering unconditionally Tulasidas says Jo kahe so kara krpa tero tulasi hai O Lord I am yours do whatever you think fit whichever way you want to shower your grace and blessings This is surrender Merely saying I have surrendered is of no use if I continue to pamper my ego and nurse my personal desires and ambitions In the Ramcharitmanas Vibhishana s surrender to Sri Rama is depicted very beautifully Vibhishana was already a devotee of Rama and was finding it difficult to live with Ravana and toe his line So at last he was happy to surrender to Sri Rama saying O Lord I have heard about your resolve to accept anyone who surrenders to you and seeks refuge in you I have heard your great name great glory and great resolve And that is why I have come here Now I surrender to you With these words he fell at His feet Rama was very pleased This jiva had got separated from Him and was wandering here and there since time unknown Finally he had come back to him If a child gets angry and leaves the house or is lost somewhere for a long time won t his parents welcome him with open arms on his return The Supreme is also pleased because every jiva is after all an integral part of Him The episode of Vibhishana s saranagati highlights the joy of true surrender to every spiritual seeker Swami Tejomayananda is head of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide

You prostrate yourself to destroy the ego discovers Arun GanapathyNamaskaram pannaren I will perform a namaskaram said the young boy to his uncle and aunt as he was saying goodbye before his departure for home Ellam nallapadiya irukunum Everything should turn out well they said to the boy in return while he stretched out on the floor face down lying prostrate at their feet waiting to be blessedNamaskaram as distinct from namaskar is an ancient practice in southern India where a person prostrates before a deity saint or an elder in an act of complete humility and surrender The origin of the word might lie in the Sanskrit words na mama meaning not mine or nama to bow and while some argue that it was first mentioned in the shastras or scriptures others trace the earliest references to the VedasIf the devotee is a man he first approaches the deity or the walkway immediately in front of the sanctum sanctorum He raises his palms and brings them together in front of his chest holding them there briefly in prayer Then he lowers his arms and bends forward placing the tips of his fingers wide apart on the floor in front of him as he bends his knees for support Then he dives down to the floor prostrating full and flat in complete surrenderGetting Rid Of The EgoThe objective is to get rid of the ego This is just the beginning As the body touches the floor he will stretch his arms above his head and join his palms again in prayer and lie fully prostrate like a skittle that s gone down showing how completely they have submitted When men do a namaskaram they normally do the shastanga namaskaram with all eight limbs including body chest knees feet hands head speech and mind touching the ground says Balasubramaniam secretary at a East Delhi Vinayaka temple Shastanga namaskaram is often preceded by an abhivadana When a person does a namaskaram to an elder or a guru he is expected to introduce himself by reciting his name family lineage and gotra With his head bowed and hands crossed he touches the feet and then takes the hands back to touch the left ear lobes with left hand and the right ear lobe with right handWhile he was giving me this information a devotee still lay prostrate with his face fully touching the stone floor In the notes I had with me it said the indriyas or sense organs normally face towards the outer world when we lie flat but when we prostrate on the ground face down the indriyas are turned away from the outer world If men do the shastanga namaskaram what do women do The women do a panchanga namaskaram They use only five limbs in their namaskaram According to scriptures the part that sustains the growth of the foetus and the breasts should not be allowed to come in contact with the ground Since it is impossible to do this without the torso touching the ground the shoulders too have to be excluded leaving the palms the head the toes the knees and the mind five angas with which to do the namaskaramA woman begins by kneeling down and then bows her body down indicating her pliant nature and touches her head to the ground using her palms for support After doing this she gets back on her knees and prays to the deity with her eyes closed and her hands folded